“WHEN PEOPLE GROW OLD, THEY BECOME USELESS: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF AGEING VULNERABLY IN A NEOLIBERAL CONTEXT

Abstract

This paper is an ethnographic account of how 12 individuals in Singapore age in the context of a neoliberal state’s reading and addressing of vulnerability in ageing. The research is situated in the Toa Payoh district of Singapore through a Community Befriending Program hosted by a Social Service Agency. The ethnographer, with the help of Alvin (pseudonym), a junior official, had multiple extended conversations with these individuals for approximately 4 months in their homes until the program was abruptly suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The central contention of this paper is: the neoliberal state reads and addresses vulnerability in ageing narrowly, selectively, and economically. Whilst such an approach assuages some vulnerabilities, it engenders an ageing experience rife with contradictions and disempowerment. The 12 individuals develop the notion that ageing in Singapore means that one will be provided for. Simultaneously and consequently, ageing for them is an experience of financial scarcity, during which they are expected to participate in a demanding regime of quantifiable sociality while being essentialized as socially isolated and vulnerable. They also experience ethnocultural precarity and class inferiority and engage in emotion work to manage their fears.